1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fishing lure holders and more particularly pertains to trolling lure holders which are designed to retain such lures in a tackle box in a manner whereby entanglement with other fishing gear is prevented and which is further designed to hold at least two differently sized fishing lures.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Holders for fishing gear are generally well-known in the prior art. In this respect, fishing gear holders are typically large and bulky in size, and further quite frequently are designed to hold a plurality of fishing gear thereon to the extent that entanglement occurs among the fishing gear itself even though the same is retained on the holder. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,080, issued Jan. 15, 1974, to Wallace, illustrates a holder for fishing leaders which essentially consists of a flat rectangular, rigidly plastic panel with pairs of aligned notches in its opposite edges for winding and storing fishing leaders. The panel may be fabricated of any suitably rigid material which is not subject to damage due to water exposure and is otherwise durable when subjected to its intended use. By way of example the Wallace panel may be constructed of any one of a number of known clear or colored plastics. Rows of holes are formed in the panel, and slotted plugs can be placed over the leader ends and snapped into the holes to hold the leaders in place. In a modified form of the Wallace disclosure, a third set of notches is provided for holding hooks which might be secured on the ends of the leaders. As such, the Wallace fishing gear holder is representative of the complex construction often associated with prior art fishing gear holders, although not specifically limited to a retention of fishing lures. In this connection, the particular design of the Wallace fishing gear holder requires the use of fishing gear having leaders associated therewith, and is not particularly well suited for retaining trolling lures having no leaders attached thereto.
As to holders designed for retaining fishing lures per se, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,336,693, issued Aug. 22, 1967, to Lussier, wherein there is disclosed a tackle box in which fishing jigs and lures are independently suspended on a plurality of vertical slidably mounted carrier panels within the box. The box is further provided with side walls having tracks for receiving the panels, and the tracks are provided with upwardly facing shoulders whereby a panel may be raised and held in an elevated exposed position. Each panel is provided with a plurality of perforations, and hook-shaped brackets are selectively positionable within the perforations whereby the hook portion of a fishing lure may be hung on such brackets to effect a retention of the lure within the tackle box. However, the particular construction of the Lussier device still permits fishing lures to bounce around on their associated panels to the extent that they may become entangled with each other, as well as with other fishing gear contained within the tackle box. Further, the lure retention panels of Lussier are designed to hold a plurality of fishing lures on each of the respective sides thereof so that the lures easily come into contact with one another thus to further increase the entanglement problems.
To overcome the entanglement problems associated with lure holders, there has been at least a couple of lure holders developed which are designed to retain but one lure at a time. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,273,279, issued Sept. 20, 1966, to Norton et al., discloses a fishing lure holder which includes a base member and an elongated extension member orthogonally fixed thereto, such extension member having a resilient elastic strip attached on a free end thereof. The elastic strip is provided with a plurality of perforations into which a small hook member may be fixedly secured, whereby a fishing lure may have its hook portion brought into engagement with the base member, while the small hook attached to the elastic strip may be brought into the eye of the lure which is normally utilized for direct connection to a fishing line. While the construction of the Norton et al. device does permit the retention of a fishing lure thereon in a manner which substantially reduces the chances of entanglement of the lure with other fishing gear, the fishing lure holder is still deficient in design to the extent that it is useful for retaining only one lure at a time. Further, the construction thereof results in a fishing lure being retained in a parallel alignment and spaced apart relationship with the extension member whereby other fishing gear may become entangled by passing through the space between a retained lure and the extension member.
To illustrate a different approach, U.S. Pat. No. 3,395,788, issued Aug. 6, 1968, to Gill, discloses a lure container having a tension retained closure associated therewith. Specifically, the Gill container essentially consists of a pocket-size transparent envelope-type plastic container having a pouch therein into which artificial lures and bait may be positioned. Additionally, a closure portion of the container is designed to snap together so as to seal itself and further, the closure will spring open when squeezed. While this particular construction is successful in preventing entanglement between a fishing lure contained therein and other fishing gear contained within a tackle box, it can be appreciated that the design and construction thereof is both complex and expensive to manufacture. Further, the Gill container is essentially limited to the retention of a single lure, since if two or more lures were positioned within the container simultaneously, they would become entangled with each other thereby defeating the intended purpose of the device.
L. C. Warner, U. S. Pat. No. 2,663,114 discloses a fishing leader holder which includes the use of a pair of coil springs positioned at opposite ends of a plate, such springs serving as gripping means for the fishing leaders so as to retain the same on the plates. None of these patents disclose in combination all of the specific details of the present invention in such a way as to bear upon the patentability of any claims of the present invention.
Accordingly, it can be appreciated that there still exists a need for a simple fishing lure holder which may be economically manufactured and which may retain more than one fishing lure at a time without any fear of entanglement between respective lures contained on the holder. In this respect, the present invention fulfills this need.